


Dreams Do Show Me Thee

by goingtothetardis



Category: Doctor Who, Doctor Who (2005)
Genre: Angst, Descriptions of war, Dream Sharing, Emotional Hurt/Comfort, F/M, Nightmares, Post-Episode: s01e06 Dalek, Prompt Fic, Sharing a Bed, Time War memories
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-09-30
Updated: 2018-09-30
Packaged: 2019-07-20 18:07:15
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,129
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/16142648
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/goingtothetardis/pseuds/goingtothetardis
Summary: When Rose asks the Doctor to stay with her until she falls asleep after their trip to the bunker in 2012, she falls unexpectedly into one of the Doctor's nightmares.





	Dreams Do Show Me Thee

**Author's Note:**

  * For [gallifreyburning](https://archiveofourown.org/users/gallifreyburning/gifts).



> Gallifreyburning prompted: Death + Gallifrey + pairing of my choice. 
> 
> Despite falling head first into the Big Finish Gallifrey audios lately, I still felt compelled to write this from the perspective of Nine/Rose. I hope you enjoy it. 
> 
> Thanks to SelenaTerna for the read through and for supplying a title.

“Do you want to… stay for a bit?” Rose asks, chewing on her thumbnail to mask her nervousness. Her cheeks flush, as she knows she’s asking the Doctor for more domestic intimacy than he’s already given her tonight, but she needs him close. 

“Nah, got work to do, me,” the Doctor says, standing up from the plush chair in her room. 

Rose swallows back her disappointment. “Yeah, ‘course. ‘S dumb. I’m sorry I asked.”

The Doctor pauses in his walk to her door, and she looks up in confusion.

“Do  _ you _ want me to stay, Rose?” He gazes at her with an strange sort of burning intensity that makes her look away and fiddle with a thread on her blanket. 

Rose hesitates a moment before meeting his gaze. “Yeah. ‘S just… today was…” She sighs heavily. “It was a lot, what with the Dalek, an’ you, an’...”

The Doctor relaxes slightly and nods in understanding. “A bit intense. I know.”

“You don’t have to do anything, jus’... Maybe sit next to me. Dunno. Maybe it’ll help me sleep.”

The Doctor nods again and walks back to her bed. After hesitating for the briefest moment, he removes his leather jacket and bends down to take off his boots. Rose bites her lip, watching, understanding somehow that this is crossing a line they’ve never crossed before. 

Once he’s settled in beside her, at least a pillow away, Rose settles back against her pillow. “Night, Doctor.”

“Goodnight, Rose,” he answers.

His solid presence next to her is enough to calm her nerves and lure her into sleep.

* * *

 

_ Rose looks around wildly, panic filling her chest. Carnage, and destruction erupt in chaos around her. Fires rage in the streets, and what were clearly once majestic buildings lay in shattered ruins everywhere.  _

_ The place reeks of death. Darkness hovers unending on the horizon, and if there’s a sun or suns, she can’t tell, as it’s obscured by smoke and the dust of war.  _

_ Just as she turns to run back inside the TARDIS, which somehow sits unscathed behind her, a symphony of the most terrible sound in the universe.  _

‘EXTERMINATE! EXTERMINATE! EXTERMINATE!’

_ Before her eyes, a man in red robes is exterminated by three Daleks, who appeared out of nowhere. Next, a child falls victim to the slaughter.  _

_ Rose cries out.  _

_ And everything resets.  _

_ Over and over again, the images assault her mind as if on a broken track. Death prevails, the one constant horror in this nightmare – and no one or nothing – not even a blade of grass – is immune to its relentless hunt.  _

_ Flickers of weapons so vast and so terrible flash in her mind. The greatest enemy of all, the Daleks, screaming death on the universe. Time resets again and again as Time Lords abuse the very thing they are sworn to protect.  _

_ Friends perish. Everything dies. The enemy replaces its lost soldiers without effort.  _

_ A growing knowledge, a burden so great beats in his hearts, the truth of what must be done.  _

_ And he’s the only one who can.  _

* * *

 

Rose sits up with a gasp, her heart racing as she breathes heavily, as though she’s just sprinted down the Royal Mile. Something falls to the bed next to her, and after a moment, she realizes the Doctor’s fallen asleep and at some point his arm must have been draped over her. 

The shock of the Doctor still next to her barely registers as the images from her nightmare continue to assault her senses. What had she just experienced? The presence of the Daleks fills her with a nauseating realization that she may have just witnessed a fragment of the Time War from the Doctor’s memories.  _ Somehow. _ The memory of two hearts and a burden not her own only confirms her theory.

Rose chokes back a sob and whispers to the Doctor. “Doctor! Doctor, wake up.”

He comes to with a start and thrashes around in confusion for a moment before focusing on Rose. “Rose? What am I…? Where…?”

“You fell asleep. I– I asked you to stay with me, an’ you must’ve fallen asleep.  _ God,  _ Doctor, I think you…” She trails off and pulls in a long, shuddering breath. 

“What did I do?” the Doctor asks, his voice low and dangerous. If she’s not mistaken, there’s an edge of fear in his voice as well. 

“I don’t know how, but I think you shared your nightmare. Were you dreaming about the Time War?” Rose is frozen, unable to peel her gaze away from the Doctor.

Even in the dim light the TARDIS had provided in her room, Rose can sense the moment the Doctor shutters himself off from her. 

“That’s not possible.”

“But I… It was horrible, Doctor. Terrible. Daleks an’ death an’...” She wipes the tears off her cheeks, which flow from her eyes unbidden. “How do you bear it?”

“That’s not possible,” he repeats again, squeezing his eyes shut and shaking his head.

“But I saw… You had your arm on me, when I woke up,” she explains, shrugging her shoulders helplessly. It’s the only thing she can think of. Maybe he’s telepathic and his touch...

The Doctor’s eyes widen in shock. “I’m so sorry, Rose. It shouldn’t have happened.” 

He moves to get out of her bed, to run from the room, and she flings herself across her bed to grab his hand. 

“Wait, no,” she commands. “Please don’t go.”

“Rose, I’m too dangerous for you. I can’t stay here. You shouldn’t’ve seen that, any of it,” the Doctor whispers, his voice cracking. 

Rose’s heart breaks for the Doctor, this man who sacrificed  _ everything  _ and got no reward, except that of a lonely life as the last of his people. Her brief foray into the nightmare of the Time War has suddenly given her a perspective on the Doctor she never thought she’d have. And with a start, she realizes she doesn’t even know the name of his planet. 

“What was it called, your planet?” she asks, squeezing his hand to show him she’s still there at his side.

At her question, the Doctor slumps forward, and it’s as if he’s lost his earlier instinct to run. He allows Rose to tug him back to the bed, and he settles against the headboard as Rose sits cross-legged next to him, his hand between both of hers. 

Meeting her gaze, he finally speaks. “Gallifrey,” he says. “Gallifrey, the Shining World of the Seven Systems.” 

“Tell me about it?” she asks, unsure what else to say.

It’s a long moment before the Doctor speaks, but when he tells her stories of his home world, Rose hopes it brings a sliver of healing to his damaged hearts. 

And for as long as she can, she’ll be here at his side. 

**Author's Note:**

> Find me at goingtothetardis.tumblr.com and under the same user name at Pillowfort!
> 
> A special note: This fic puts my total word count on AO3 to over 400K words since I started writing/posting fic in 2015. I just want to give a special shout out to every single one of you who have read/commented/given kudos to my fic in the last several years. Your encouragement and enthusiasm have kept me going, and I'm forever grateful to you!!


End file.
